1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a lamination apparatus and method of use, and more particularly to a lamination apparatus for laminating photographs onto album pages.
2. Background Description
Photography is a hobby for millions of people worldwide. With the advent of digital photograph, photographs can be easily organized in digital format into folders on a computer hard drive, for example. Also, photo albums can easily be assembled using well known software packages. These photo albums can be organized such that photographs are assembled by date, person, or a host of other categories. These photographs can also be easily reorganized using these software packages.
However, many people still prefer to use conventional film and have printed photographs. Also, many people that use digital photography still print the pictures. In either case, these photographs are, in many instances, placed in a photo album using laminate paper. But, to organize these photographs in a photo album is a time consuming and arduous task. For example, it is necessary to first organize the photographs by category, for example, then have a “mock” layout prior to placing them in the photo album.
To assist in the process of placing photographs into a photo album, many devices have been devised over the years, ranging from smaller to larger machines. For example, in smaller machines heating of a plastic film to aid in lamination is accomplished by flat platens. Once heated, expeller rollers downstream of the platens compress the heated film. An early example of a flat platen laminator is U.S. Pat. No. 2,927,620. The other basic type of laminating machine is the larger machine. In these machines, heated rollers are used in the lamination process. An example of the larger machines is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,285.
However, these apparatuses have a number of disadvantages. For example, these machines do not automatically facilitate the layout of photographs onto paper media (e.g., photo album pages). As a result, creating a photo album requires the consumer to manually insert individual photographs onto a media page, or into a plastic page compartment or other type of storage device. For example, some systems require the photographs to be adhered onto a media page with adhesive “dots”; that is, each corner of the photograph is attached to a media page with dots prior to applying a protective covering (e.g., laminate). Accordingly, due to complexity of the processes and/or lack of automation, uncompleted photo album pages are typically placed into the album or binder, which results in the accumulation and storage of numerous photographs that the consumer, due to time constraints, has not had the time to organize.